Debt Dumpers - 2016

[dayvewc]

It's not dept dumping right now, but it is good news.


I heard back from the company that manages my HSA account. I had asked if there was a deadline for when I could file a claim for reimbursement on out of pocket medical expenses. Turns out, there isn't!!

So, even though I had to charge $1650 on my carecredit account last year, and due to ongoing chiropractic treatments won't have that much in my HSA account until sometime next year (2017) I can wait and file for the reimbursement then with no problem. (Other than keeping the receipts, which I have filed away. Now, if I can just not lose them!!)

 

[Miss Whimsy]

I think Friday's paycheck will allow me to pay off the final $400 of my last student loan. I've fiddled with the numbers like 50 times in YNAB, waiting to get paid, and I think it's gonna happen.

I did it!!!!

No more student loan debt, less than 10 years from graduating.

No I just have to tackle the $20,000 of credit card debt I've been racking up. I really don't even understand how this happened. I mean some of it was a sick pet, but like where did the REST of it come from??

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

@Miss Whimsy Congrats!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I did it!!!!

No more student loan debt, less than 10 years from graduating.

No I just have to tackle the $20,000 of credit card debt I've been racking up. I really don't even understand how this happened. I mean some of it was a sick pet, but like where did the REST of it come from??

Awesome! Congratulations on paying off your student loans.
When you ask yourself where did all the cc debt come from I think we all here ask ourselves the same thing. Usually, it's not one huge item/catastrophe but more like years of buying things when we should have just said to ourselves, "I can't afford that."

 

[rnorwo1]

Thanks for the encouragement and really we are doing okay in the grand scheme of things, but we have some work to do. I don't think the cruise will stress us out because we are back on track with our budget and DH got a raise recently. Since November/December we have COMPLETELY changed things in our house. Between cutting out a lot of television time (I can live without tv entirely but DH wasn't moving from the TV when he came home.), to scheduling family activities at home, etc.- we have done a complete turnaround. It is helping, but I find DH and I are more like friends now than a married couple, so we're trying to work on that. We live in a small town that is a 2 hour round trip from the nearest store, restaurant, etc. Our town is like Mayberry with a lot of outdoorsy people. LOL. This isn't an issue most of the time and actually works in our favour for spending because you can talk yourself out of a lot of things when you have to trudge through freezing temperatures and drive 2 hours to get anything. On the other hand, it makes a date night almost impossible and we have no family around to help. We do what we can, but planning an actual vacation is the only time we really get to get out and do an actual activity together without the kids. (To be honest, I'm not sure that DH minds that we don't. Even with the change in medication he is still very apathetic about almost everything.) So, we are making efforts, but this is the first real effort he has made in about 8 years, so I'm doing what I can to be supportive and to figure out if we are ever going to be able to make things work. I have done everything in my power to make it work, so I feel like he has to try to meet me at least a little bit of the way. Hopefully he gets a little pixie dust in his eyes on the cruise,lol.=QUOTE]

So glad to hear you've made so many changes you feel good about! Hopefully you and your DH can find a good place together soon!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks @Angeejoe

@gracie1 - I don't mind talking about our situation, I just don't want to sound like Debbie Downer because that isn't me at all. My daughter had embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma... Basically she had cancer- a tumour on her uterus that was discovered just after she turned 1. She went through chemo and a hysterectomy and has been in remission for about three years now. It was a lot of stress, and that was the initial debt load. We essentially got stuck with $30K worth of debt within 4 months and I was told that if she made it through the first two months I would have to quit my job and take care of her full time. I went back to work when she went into kindergarten and we paid everything down. As things were improving from that, my husbands behaviour changed and I thought it was just stress, but we found out he had a problem with his pituitary not functioning. At the same time, we found out that our basement walls were no longer to code and we had to replace two of them. So last summer we had to pay for 2 walls to be replaced and move out of the house for about a month while trying to get DH back on track. Although it isn't life threatening and he does get hormone injections, it completely changed his personality and he had to take some time off of work. Now that things are balancing out (again) we definitely need to take a break, but I know getting rid of the debt will help a lot as well. The 13K is the only part on a charge card. The rest is on a line of credit with a really low interest rate, so although I need to pay it off, I'm more focused on getting rid of the higher interest rate. I can't complain too much because we don't fight or anything and if you were around us, you probably would never notice that anything is wrong. We get along great, but we barely spend time together and need to all just have some fun.

Thanks for the tip about going back through old threads. I will start working my way through them. =)

For sure your family needs a vacation!!
Except for the pituitary problem, your dh sounds a lot like my ds18 who is battling depression. For so long we thought he was just a home-body/computer nerd. We didn't even know the symptoms of depression but many of them were all in plain view once we knew what to look for.
He is now starting weekly therapy and antidepressants so I hope this will turn him around.

Best wishes to you for a happy, healthy dd & dh!

 

[bcwife76]

@TheGryphonsDen thank you for sharing your story, you and your family have certainly been through the wringer!! I truly hope things turn around for you all very soon. A relaxing vacation where everyone can just forget about all the stress would do you all wonders, I'm sure!

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

Thanks again for the support and I'm sure we'll figure things out one way or another, but it is nice to start to put the pieces back together. I am reorganizing and purging household items this weekend. It is amazing how many tiny toys children have... Where is Mary Poppins when I need her? (We really need a Mary Poppins smiley,lol.)

 

[stayhomemom77]

Thanks again for the support and I'm sure we'll figure things out one way or another, but it is nice to start to put the pieces back together. I am reorganizing and purging household items this weekend. It is amazing how many tiny toys children have... Where is Mary Poppins when I need her? (We really need a Mary Poppins smiley,lol.)

I want her carpet bag for my carry on item!

 

[gracie1]

I did it!!!!

No more student loan debt, less than 10 years from graduating.

No I just have to tackle the $20,000 of credit card debt I've been racking up. I really don't even understand how this happened. I mean some of it was a sick pet, but like where did the REST of it come from??

Way to go!! That is fantastic!!

 

[gracie1]

Thanks again for the support and I'm sure we'll figure things out one way or another, but it is nice to start to put the pieces back together. I am reorganizing and purging household items this weekend. It is amazing how many tiny toys children have... Where is Mary Poppins when I need her? (We really need a Mary Poppins smiley,lol.)

We're glad to have you on our thread! Even though I don't know you - just by reading what you type and everything you have been through and are going through you really seem to have a positive attitude!

 

[KBOhio]

As we continue with the debt reduction and a tighter budget, the husband is coming along slowly.
He still really likes to upgrade everything but the more he focuses on the budget the more he's onboard. To help things along, he received cost of living raise and a nice bonus and we will be getting $1300 tax return.
My student loan will be paid off in August and one car payment - that will free up $550.00/monthly.
We have a lot of debt and a huge portion of that is CC. But with two of us tackling it together - I am very optimistic. Plus the husband has good ideas on interest rates and payment plans, it's just dragging him into the mix that takes a while.
He went to Aldis with me today and saw the benefits of saving there.
So reading this thread is inspiring to me and really helps me to focus and stay on track when ALL I want is to go out to eat and buy new clothes.

Thanks all!

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

I want her carpet bag for my carry on item!

Me too! I have a ton of stuff in my purse, but anyone who is brave enough to pick it up will get their workout for the day.

Thanks @gracie1 - I really like the DISboards because I find there seem to be a lot of pretty happy people. Life is too short to be miserable.

I've been re-organizing and updating our budget this weekend. I paid our first payments on everything so I'm rewarding myself by doing some trip planning.

 

[Marlyn]

Bought my Annual Passes for WDW yeterday and received 30% off my existing port Orleans reservation with the pass holder rate. Now to save money for the room only portion and, of course, food. I'm staying 2 weeks in July.

It feels good. I had been considering cancelling our trip, but with our recent windfall we are able to go and it won't be on credit! Our flights have been booked on air miles.

This week I'm purging. I have a few items I plan to sell. Others I will donate. Trying to get DH onboard. He's getting better with the money saving. We had a good talk, looked at the visa he uses to show how his spending patterns. He was surprised at all the "little things" that add up. Getting him on board with purging is another thing. I'm a minimalist, he's not so much like that. I found an old coffee thermos that he hasn't used in years. I was going to add it to the donate pile. He seems to think he might "need" it. Honestly, if I had donated it without him seeing it, he never would have known! Don't feel right doing that to his stuff though.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Bought my Annual Passes for WDW yeterday and received 30% off my existing port Orleans reservation with the pass holder rate. Now to save money for the room only portion and, of course, food. I'm staying 2 weeks in July.

It feels good. I had been considering cancelling our trip, but with our recent windfall we are able to go and it won't be on credit! Our flights have been booked on air miles.

This week I'm purging. I have a few items I plan to sell. Others I will donate. Trying to get DH onboard. He's getting better with the money saving. We had a good talk, looked at the visa he uses to show how his spending patterns. He was surprised at all the "little things" that add up. Getting him on board with purging is another thing. I'm a minimalist, he's not so much like that. I found an old coffee thermos that he hasn't used in years. I was going to add it to the donate pile. He seems to think he might "need" it. Honestly, if I had donated it without him seeing it, he never would have known! Don't feel right doing that to his stuff though.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Oooooooh, I feel your pain.

I have the EXACT same issue with my DH. I'm a purger, he's a hoarder. I regularly purge "my" things and even some "our" things but I can't get rid of "his" things without his knowledge and he's never willing to let anything go!!

We moved in the summer of 2011 and again in the summer of 2013. There are STILL unpacked boxes full of cr@p from the first move nearly five years ago that haven't been touched in all this time. He wouldn't let me get rid of them in 2011 nor in 2013 nor last summer when I tried to purge them. They haven't even seen the light of day in 4.5 years...but he might "need" them. He doesn't even know what's IN there. But they're his things so he wants to keep them. So, we keep paying to move all this unused junk from house to house to house. Maddening!

 

[dayvewc]

Vent ahead .....

I'm getting to where I hate my roommates!! They just got in a screaming fit because one of them is trying to figure out a way to go with me on vacation (I don't really want him to, but don't know how to say that without sounding like a d**k) and the other is having a fit because she hasn't ever gone to WDW and can't even try to go this trip due to surgery the week before.

Given my 'druthers, I'druther neither one went on this trip. I'm going to be spending half my time in the resort working on my grad class, and don't want to deal with someone else moving around the room or watching tv or asking "when are we going to ________".

I want this trip for ME as an escape from them for a week.

I know, it makes me sound childish, and petulant, and unfriendly, and probably a few other adjectives. I'm just not sure if I care at this point.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Vent ahead .....

I'm getting to where I hate my roommates!! They just got in a screaming fit because one of them is trying to figure out a way to go with me on vacation (I don't really want him to, but don't know how to say that without sounding like a d**k) and the other is having a fit because she hasn't ever gone to WDW and can't even try to go this trip due to surgery the week before.

Given my 'druthers, I'druther neither one went on this trip. I'm going to be spending half my time in the resort working on my grad class, and don't want to deal with someone else moving around the room or watching tv or asking "when are we going to ________".

I want this trip for ME as an escape from them for a week.

I know, it makes me sound childish, and petulant, and unfriendly, and probably a few other adjectives. I'm just not sure if I care at this point.

Ummmm....are you somehow obligated to take a roommate on vacation with you? I've never vacationed with any of my former roommates (not counting my sister) and I was quite close with most of them.

I don't think it makes you any of those things, frankly. And if you want it to be a solo trip, can't you just say...sorry guys...this is a solo trip. How did they ever get the idea that they were invited anyway?

 

[Marlyn]

Vent ahead .....

I'm getting to where I hate my roommates!! They just got in a screaming fit because one of them is trying to figure out a way to go with me on vacation (I don't really want him to, but don't know how to say that without sounding like a d**k) and the other is having a fit because she hasn't ever gone to WDW and can't even try to go this trip due to surgery the week before.

Given my 'druthers, I'druther neither one went on this trip. I'm going to be spending half my time in the resort working on my grad class, and don't want to deal with someone else moving around the room or watching tv or asking "when are we going to ________".

I want this trip for ME as an escape from them for a week.

I know, it makes me sound childish, and petulant, and unfriendly, and probably a few other adjectives. I'm just not sure if I care at this point.

You dont sound childish at all. You have every right to go away on your own, especially if you plan on working on your Grad class while there. Sometimes we just need to say what we want, even if you're worried about upsetting someone.

 

[dayvewc]

Ummmm....are you somehow obligated to take a roommate on vacation with you? I've never vacationed with any of my former roommates (not counting my sister) and I was quite close with most of them.

I don't think it makes you any of those things, frankly. And if you want it to be a solo trip, can't you just say...sorry guys...this is a solo trip. How did they ever get the idea that they were invited anyway?

This one was my fault. When I first planned this trip (and the one in May) he asked if he could go. I told him that he was welcome to go on any vacation as long as he paid his share of the related expenses. He is not adept at managing funds, so I wasn't really worried about it. He's still not really managing his funds, but thinks that he has found a way to pay for his part.

You dont sound childish at all. You have every right to go away on your own, especially if you plan on working on your Grad class while there. Sometimes we just need to say what we want, even if you're worried about upsetting someone.

Thanks. Hugs. I just need to work on my assertiveness, I guess.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I found an antennae on Amazon for less than $7 so I ordered two and set them up. I need to finish off my DVR and I'm sending it back and cancelling my local channels which will save me $44 a month.